President Obama just finished speaking in Falls Church, Virginia, and announced a plan to allow Americans to refinance their homes at historically low prices.

Obama: "This housing crisis struck right at the heart of what it means to be middle class in America: our homes, We need to do everything in our power to repair the damage and make responsible families whole."

"Americans making a down payment on their dreams shouldn’t be terrified by pages and pages of fine print – they should be confident they’re making the right decision for their future."

"Government must take responsibility for rules of the road that are fair and fairly enforced. "

"And I promise you that I will keep doing everything I can to make the future brighter for this community, for this commonwealth, for this country."

Full transcript after the jump

As prepared for delivery.

Hello, everybody! It’s good to be here. Thank you for having me.

Last week, in my State of the Union Address, I laid out my blueprint for an economy that’s built to last. Don’t worry; I’m not going do the whole thing again this morning. It’s a blueprint that puts a new focus on restoring what have always been our greatest strengths. American manufacturing. American energy. The skills and education of American workers.

And most importantly, the American values of fairness and responsibility.

We know what happened when we strayed from those values over the past decade – especially when it comes to the massive housing bubble that burst. Millions of families who did the right and responsible thing – who shopped for a home, secured a mortgage, and made their payments each month – they were hurt badly by the irresponsible actions of other people, who weren't playing by the same rules, weren't taking the same care, weren't acting as responsibly. By lenders who sold loans to people who couldn’t afford the mortgages; and buyers bought homes who knew they couldn’t afford them; and banks that packaged those mortgages up and traded them to reap phantom profits know that they were building a house of cards.

It was wrong, it was wrong. And it triggered the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. And it has been the single biggest drag on our recovery from a terrible recession. Crushing debt has kept millions of consumers from spending. A lack of building demand has kept hundreds of thousands of construction workers idle. Everybody involved in the homebuilding business -- folks who make windows, folks who make carpets. They're all been impacted. The challenge is massive in size and in scope, because we've got a multi-trillion dollar housing industry. And economists can tell you how it’s affected all sorts of statistics, from GDP to consumer confidence.

But what’s at stake is more than just statistics. It’s personal. And I’ve been saying this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class. And this housing crisis struck right at the heart of what it means to be middle class in America: our homes. The places where we invest our nest eggs, the place where we raise our family, the place where we plant roots in our communities, the place where we build memories. It's personal. It affects so much of how people feel about their lives, about their community, about their economy... about the country. We need to do everything in our power to repair the damage and make responsible families whole.

Now, the truth is, it will take more time than any of us would like for the housing market to recover from this crisis. Home prices started a pretty steady decline about five years ago now. And government certainly can’t fix the entire problem on its own. But it is wrong for anyone to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom. I refuse to accept that, and so do the American people.

There are more than 10 million homeowners across the country right now who, because of an unprecedented decline in home prices that is no fault of their own, owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. Means your mortgage, your house is underwater. Here in Falls Church, home values have fallen by about a quarter from their peak. In places like Las Vegas, more than half of all homeowners are underwater, more than half.

So it going to take a while for those prices to rise again. But there are actions we can take, right now, to provide some relief to folks who’ve been responsible, have done the right thing and are making their payments on time.

Already, thanks to the outstanding work ... [by HUD Sec. Donovan] ... the housing plan we launched a couple years ago has helped nearly one million responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages and they're saving an average of $300 on their payments every month. 300 dollars. Which is great. But I’ll be honest – the programs that we put forward haven't worked at the scale we’d hoped. Mortgage rates are as low as they’ve been in half a century, and when that happens, usually homeowners flock to refinance their mortgages. ... But this time, too many families haven’t been able to take advantage of the low rates. Because falling prices lock them out of the market. ... They're underwater ...

So last year, we took aggressive action that allowed more families to participate. And today, we’re doing even more. This is the main reason I'm here today. As I indicated at the State of the Union last week, I am sending Congress a plan that will give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates. No more red tape, no more runaround from the banks. And a small fee on the largest financial institutions will make sure that it doesn’t add to our deficit.

I want to be clear: this plan, like the other actions we’ve taken, will not help the neighbors down the street who bought a house they couldn’t afford, then walked away and left a foreclosed home behind. It's not designed for those who have acted irresponsibly but it can help those who acted responsibly. It not going to help those who bought multiple homes just to speculate and flip the house to make a quick buck. ...

What this plan will do is help millions of responsible homeowners who make their payments on time but find themselves trapped under falling home values or wrapped up in red tape. If you’re ineligible for refinancing just because you’re underwater on your mortgage, this plan changes that. You’ll be able to refinance at a lower rate, saving hundreds of dollars a month you can put back in your pocket. Or you can use those savings to rebuild equity in your homes – which will help most underwater homeowners come back up for air more quickly.

Now to move this part of the plan, we're going to need Congress to act. We're going to need Congress to act. I hear some murmuring in the audience here. We need them to act. But we’re not just going to wait for Congress. We’re going to keep building a firewall to prevent the same kinds of abuses that led to this crisis in the first place. So there are things we can do administrative that are also going to help responsible homeowners.

Already, we’ve set up a special task force I asked my Attorney General to establish to investigate the kind of activity banks took when they packaged and sold risky mortgages; That task force is ramping up its work as we speak. We are going to hold people who broke the law accountable and restore confidence in the market. We're going to speed assistance to homeowners. And we are going to turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many hardworking Americans.

Today, I’m also proposing a Homeowners Bill of Rights – one straightforward set of commonsense rules of the road that every family knows they can count on when they’re shopping for a mortgage. No more hidden fees or conflicts of interest. No more getting the runaround when you call about your loan. No fine print that you use to take a deal to get families to take a deal ... New safeguards against inappropriate foreclosures. New options to avoid foreclosure if you’ve fallen on hardship or a run of bad luck. And ... and a new, simple, clear form for new buyers of a home.

Think about it. This is the most important purchase a family makes. But how many of you have had to deal with overly complicated mortgage forms with hidden clauses and complex terms? I remember when Michelle and I bought our first condo. And we were both lawyers. And we're looking through the forms ... holding it up ...reading it again. And that's for two trained lawyers. The forms, the confusion, the potential for abuse ...

This is what a mortgage form should look like. This is it. Now that our new consumer watchdog agency is finally running at full steam ... they're moving forward on important protections like this new, shorter mortgage form.

Simple, not complicated. Informative, not confusing. Terms are clear. Fees are transparent. This, by the way, is what some of the folks in Congress are trying to roll back. I guess like they complicated things that confuse consumers. ... I prefer actions that are taken to make things simpler and easier to understand for consumers. ... Especially on the biggest single investment that most people will ever make. Americans making a down payment on their dreams shouldn’t be terrified by pages and pages of fine print – they should be confident they’re making the right decision for their future.

And there’s more we’re announcing today. We’re working to turn more foreclosed homes into rental housing, because as we know and a lot of families know, that empty house or for sale sign down the block can bring down the price ... of ... entire neighborhood. We’re working to make sure people don’t lose their homes just because they lost their job. And these steps can make a concrete difference in people's lives right now.

But as I said earlier, no program or policy will solve all the problems in a multi trillion-dollar housing market. The heights of the housing bubble reached before it burst, those were unsustainable. And it's going to take time to fully recover. That requires everybody to do their part.

... Government must take responsibility for rules of the road that are fair and fairly enforced. Banks and lenders must be held accountable for ending the practices that helped cause this crisis in the first place. And all of us must take responsibility for our own actions – or lack of action. So I urge Congress to act. Pass this plan. Help more families keep their homes. Help more neighborhoods remain vibrant and whole. Help keep more dreams defended and alive. And I promise you that I will keep doing everything I can to make the future brighter for this community, for this commonwealth, for this country.